Trustly

Payment provider acquired by Nordic Capital

28 Mar 2018, Lina Sennevall

Payment provider Trustly was founded in 2008 and after just two years the company reached 1m transactions. Ten years on, the company is now present in 29 European countries with connections to more than 3,000 banks.

In March, the company was acquired by private equity investor and SCC Patron, Nordic Capital. The acquisition will help Trustly’s future expansion with the goal to become a global leader in direct payments. Oscar Berglund, CEO of Trustly, said that teaming up with Nordic Capital was the perfect fit as they know the payment industry well and has a proven track record of growing businesses.

He said: “Their support, expertise and knowledge will be of great value as we continue to expand, growing our partners across a number of core industries, products and geographies.” Berglund said Trustly will continue to execute on their existing strategy and increase their geographical coverage. He added: “ We are always looking to improve our products and ensure the highest quality so traders, i.e. our customers, have satisfied end-consumers. Nordic Capital wants to help us accelerate our growth, but it does not mean any major changes in our current strategy.”

Trustly has been recognised on the FT1000 list of the fastest-growing European companies which Berglund said is a clear testament to the growth the company has achieved over the past few years. He said: ”In this time, we have expanded from eight to 29 European markets, supported online bank payments to and from millions of consumers and have had a tangible positive impact on businesses across the continent.”

The future is looking bright for Trustly as online banking is becoming a bigger and more important part of people’s lives. Berglund said: “The shift towards online banking-based payment solutions is only in its infancy and we continue to develop payment methods to make it easier, safer and quicker for both consumers and merchants to make and receive payments online.”

With improved online authentication methods, such as BankID, online banking will become safer and more convenient and will also help grow the demand for an online-banking based payment solution when shopping online.

Establishing in the UK was an easy choice for Trustly as it has “sophisticated merchants and tech-savvy consumers”. With London being the world’s financial centre Berglund said it makes perfect sense for Trustly to be present in the market, also after Brexit. He said: “Regardless of Britain’s membership of the European Union, the country remains one of the world’s principal trading nations, with unparalleled access to a great network of partners and suppliers.”

There are definitely exciting times ahead for Trustly which will be helped by the recent acquisition by Nordic Capital. Berglund said: “We will keep focusing on providing the best possible payments products for merchants and consumers alike. As long as we succeed in doing that, we should be able to continue growing.”